Indian Railways to develop 20GW of solar on vacant land by 2030

September 1, 2020
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Indian Railways expects to achieve 100% electrification by 2023. Image: Flickr/Belur Ashok.

Indian Railways has revealed plans to install 20GW of solar as it ramps up efforts to become a net-zero carbon emitter before 2030. The government-run company, which transports 8 billion passengers per year, said about 51,000 hectares of vacant land is available for solar developments. 

Developers recently attended a meeting alongside Indian railways minister Piyush Goyal to discuss innovative solutions for setting up solar projects alongside railway tracks. Bids for 3GW of solar projects on vacant land parcels as well as sections of land alongside railway tracks have already been invited by the Ministry of Railways and Indian Railways joint venture (JV) entity Railway Energy Management Company.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

To help in its objective of becoming 100% self-sustainable for all its power needs, Indian Railways has so far installed solar panels at more than 960 stations, including those at Varanasi, New Delhi, Jaipur, Secunderabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Orders have also been placed for 198MW of solar rooftop capacity for 550 additional stations.

The developments come after Indian Railways earlier this year announced plans to install 1GW of solar PV and 200MW of wind power by 2021-22 across its Zonal Railways and Production Units. By that deadline, the company will install 500MW across rooftops of its railway buildings, complemented with another 500MW of ground-mount PV.

Indian Railways also said this week it is set to achieve 100% electrification of its rail tracks by 2023.

Read Next

October 27, 2025
Waaree Energies has secured four solar module supply contracts totalling 692MW – three for projects in India and one in the US through its subsidiary.
October 27, 2025
Premier Energies has acquired a 51% stake each in transformer maker Transcon and inverter producer KSolare Energy. 
October 16, 2025
Jakson Green and Blueleaf Energy have reached financial close for the 840MWp Bikaner solar projects in Rajasthan, western India. 
October 15, 2025
Wood Mackenzie has warned of a supply bottleneck as the renewable energy shift drives a spike in global copper demand over the next decade.
October 15, 2025
Ciel & Terre has launched a new floating PV structure designed to address the increasingly large scale of floating solar projects.
October 15, 2025
Indian module manufacturer Saatvik Green Energy, through its subsidiary Saatvik Solar Industries, has secured solar PV module orders worth INR6.89 billion (US$78 million).

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK
Solar Media Events
March 10, 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
Solar Media Events
March 24, 2026
Lisbon, Portugal